sounds cool especially if you have alot of bluray movies

How is this terrible? I don't see the "bad" part of it.

Not a bad move for the Sony ecosystem. Though, I like the idea of placing a 640x480 copy of the film on the DVD/BD to cut out the transcoding process.

I agree with Brian on this one. DRM is and will be dead. Carrying an iPhone or iPod touch is much lighter and slimmer no matter compared to the psp or the slim and llight. I still don't see the PSP as a truly viable portable video device. Its still too big to be considered portable to me.

@MadColombian: Remember its Sony, not apple. So it has to be "bad"
Im KIDDING.

@CutePuppyz: Too big to be considered portable? I suppose if you're putting it in your pocket, yeah, but with a backpack/jacket the PSP is just as portable as an iPhone, which itself is not exactly jeans-pocket friendly.

The PSP is the best device I've seen with a 16:9 screen, so it's perfectly suited to the task of portable video. The only problem is storage space: even an 8GB memory stick still costs $100+, so you're not going to be fitting too many full-length movies on there.

@Simpsons-Movie-ruled: You know I didn't even think of that. But you bring up a very valid point. LOL.

Do we have a date yet on this firmware? Or is it still a "late March" release?

wow only 4 posts in before someone brought up the iphone/touch. Getting better, but you guys have alot of rehab left. Come on, the iphone/touch will NEVER (and i rarely use the word) be able to replace a dedicated gaming device. Apple won't allow it. Sure it will get some kewl gimmicky titles like spore, and may actually be fun, but stupid is as stupid does, and I dont see it ever coming close to being a gaming tool like a DS/PSP. And dont even compare the video playback on the psp, with the extended battery it can match a iphone, and when it runs out...dooh spare battery FtW. game over, wait iphone doesn't have any real games, drat foiled again.

Maybe when they get that 5fps psx emulator working it will have some real games heheh.

PLEASE STOP THE MADNESS! that being said. As a owner of a ps3 and a psp slim, i think this is pretty dang kewl. I can already stream media directly to the psp via wireless from the ps3, this is just one step further.

I would make one suggestion though, and that;s to have the content conversion happen PRE-plugging in the psp, rather than tethering it the whole time. I would like to queue it up, and just plug my psp in before leaving the house for a quick file dump.

I agree with madcolobian, how can this be a shown as a negative thing, it just seems like there's alot of winers out there,this is a good thing if you have a psp and a ps3, if you don't then its not meant for you period! why would i want to watch this on a 2 inch screen its not like I'm going to walk down the street while Imo watching a movie! i can easily throw my psp in a nap sack if I'm going on a trip by plant train or automobile its not a big deal to pull out my psp , come give me a brake now, ppl like to complain just for the hell of it!!

Hahaha, not portable!?!, lol, I carry my PSP everywhere even to the bathroom!

Transcode?
I thought that the bluray disc had a DRM'd copy of it already in a different format, and all this firmware does is provide the method to transfer the already encoded file over.

At least, that's what it seemed like at CES, as detailed here.

Who's right?

@kitt2112:

"Awesome but Terrible: Apple Neuters SDK and User Apps."

ohh here another one

"Awesome but Terrible: Even With an SDK I still Can't Get Music or Videos on My Iphone withouth ITunes!"

much more fitting, but we will never see those headlines..

I agree with the others here -- how is this bad in any way? If you have a PS3 and PSP, it makes getting your Blu-ray movies to your PSP ultra easy. If you do not have both, this is not for you.

After reading that headline, I expected to hit the jump and read about how Sony is going to charge $49.99 for the update or some such jibberish. But no, there is no time or usage restriction imposed thus far -- just a simple, feasible way to get more value out of your Blu-ray movies while avoiding the misery that is UMD.

This article is truly a shining example of media bias. Up next, "Apple to charge Touch users for security update, Earth rejoices."

There have only been a few games to pique my interest in buying a PS3 this might actually push me over the edge to see if I can't find a used 60G.

I have the first Gen PSP not the slim one and even that's not a pain to carry in my jeans... I haven't tried it in my scrubs yet.

The only real draw back I see in this is that the 16G Pro Duo is still 300 bucks =/ Target had 8G sticks for $89.

@helfrez: Excellent, but you're missing "Awesome but Terrible: iPod Touch 32GB available for $500: still has crappy screen!" Or "Awesome but Terrible: 32GB iPod Touch Available: $200 more than 32GB Creative Zen. Touch it!"

Love the whole negative twist on something completely popular. How is something so completely optional a terrible thing?

Lam, according to your own news article at Gizmodo, no transcoding (or very little) is even required for the PSP transfer. You might want to see a previous article that your fellow editor wrote: [gizmodo.com]

yeah, why is this terrible? its a free capability anyways!

dont feed the trolls

If I could use my Archos with this, then I would be happy, but I am sure I will not be able too. I no longer play my PSP and to use it just for movies seems silly for me at this point. My Arhcos605 has a better screen and a large HDD so it makes perfect sense for me to continue down my normal flow of ripping for it.
M

This is hardly bad news for owners of a PSP and PS3, and potential selling point for people who own one but not yet the other. Sure it would be better if each and every BR disc also had a non-DRM copy of the movie you could copy to anything. But to crap on this as "terrible", only serves to provide yet more fodder for those who want to yell fanboy.

Why is this bad news? I mean I didn't buy a psp to be ipod, I bought it to play games and sometimes play music/video of its flash memory.

how the hell is this terrible? and yeah alot of people do carry their psp with them. Not just ANY other device, so I honestly don't see any downside to this.

The next revolution from Sony will be conversion from PSP to low def DVD. Soon you'll be able to get rid of all those crummy BD disks and watch DVD's instead!

I know why this is so very terrible!

I DONT OWN EITHER A PSP OR PS3!!

OH HUMANITY!!!......AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!
how could you do this to me..?????

(gets back to work, now that my fellow cubicle dwellers have noticed)

I could say "why is this bad news?" or something to that effect, as 5 others have. I could try to answer the same question. I could argue that not ALL Gizmodo employees are fans of Apple (I know 1 who thinks they're an evil empire). But instead I will simply state the obvious; Title aside, This was still a good story and several of you will pass this information on to PSP and PS3 owners.

Totally Awesome!!! Nothing terrible about it. Can't wait -- Nice job Sony!!!

This is great. Now people can watch their hi-def content in low res!

Transfers of 1920x1080 Blu-Ray videos to the 480x272 screen will look so much better than transfers of 852x480 DVDs to that 480x272 screen! /sarcasm

As for the use of the world "terrible", maybe Mr Lam was using it as per definition 4 below!

ter·ri·ble /ˈtɛrəbəl/
-adjective
1. distressing; severe: a terrible winter.
2. extremely bad; horrible: terrible coffee; a terrible movie.
3. exciting terror, awe, or great fear; dreadful; awful.
4. formidably great: a terrible responsibility.

@LittleJon:

If that were the case, then the headline would mean "Awesome but awesome:..."

That doesn't sound right.

@LittleJon: By the construction "Awesome but terrible", he's pretty much ruling out 4th preference on that list there.

And yes, it is great that people can watch their high-def content in SD, because, you know, that's what makes it portable. Think Sony would facilitate transfers from DVD via the PS3? If yes, I've got some swampland in Florida to sell you.

Also, standard DVD resolution is 720x480. Just for the sake of clarity.

I've got a 3 year old with a growing library of Disney and Pixar Blu Ray disks and no way to watch them in the car. This is great news and exactly the push I needed to go ahead and buy a PSP (and justification..."It's for our child, honey!")

Quick question about the PS though...how far along in the lifecycle would you say we are at this point? I don't want to buy one if there is something new right around the corner.

@CutePuppyz:
"Carrying an iPhone or iPod touch is much lighter and slimmer no matter compared to the psp or the slim and llight. I still don't see the PSP as a truly viable portable video device."

I still don't see any of the i-devices as a truly viable portable video device.

Why? Ridiculously tiny screen and you cannot carry a spare battery with you and replace it when you run out of juice.

PSP, on the other hand, is an excellent portable video device. My fat PSP runs close to six hours on a single charge when watching videos off the memory stick. With an extra battery you'll get 11-12 hours of playback. PSP Slim with the optional fat battery should run a lot longer than six hours on a single charge.

One hour of encoded video with decent quality takes something like 180 megabytes, so a four megabyte card is big enough to hold stuff for at least a couple of long flights.

@CutePuppyz: O_O You bitch about DRM and praise iPod and iPhone? I... I don't even know where to start with that.

This differs in no way from the fact that you can play your iTunes bought music and videos on iPods only. Oh, sorry, it does. If Sony has the right to do this, then other manufacturers have too, so they can build their own devices for this, or add the DRM to their existing ones, something that will never happen with iTunes.

@Topcat: Um, I think lots of people who have an iPhone would disagree about it not fitting in pants pockets. It fits fine in everything I wear. It's smaller than my last phone...

@kitt2112: I have a PS3 and an iPhone, I don't want to be forced to purchase a PSP, which is what $ony wants me to do.

@bspence:

So. I have a Mac and a PSP. Apple doesn't give a shit if I want to load TV shows over to my PSP because my iPod classic's screen is so small.
DRMs a bitch no matter how you slice it.

I have a PSP, iPhone, and PS3. I don't see any downside to this whole thing. I carry the PSP with me when I am traveling because I want to play games. I can't really think of any other situation where I would feel the need to watch movies except when I am traveling, so I don't need the movies on my iPhone.

Of course, Sony could tell you to go F*** yourselves, and you can't copy your blu ray movies to anything.

@bspence:
People need to think before they type. Too many folks have gotten used to speaking off the cuff without being held accountable for what comes out.

Note:Sony is not "forcing" you to do anything. They are simply offering a bonus to users who patron their products.

"Forcing" you to buy something it would be making you pay to upgrade your ps3 with the new features that they were giving away for free to others. You know kinda like apple did for the touch users to get the new applications in the updates that new buyers already had...No one is "withholding" anything from you, nor are they threatening any action against you.

Sony does have something pretty cool with it's PS3/PSP connectivity.
If you choose to roll with them it's a benefit.

I don't see where this is really a bad thing for anyone outside these circles, however.

In other news, firmware 2.25 will usher in the UMD revival, allowing the disc to be encoded and saved to the PS3 hard drive. Low-definition enthusiasts everywhere rejoice.

This is kind of a tough call. On the one hand...DRM just plain sucks.

On the other, it's nice to be able to have a portable copy of a flick at all...AND lets say I rent a BR from Netflix, now I can have a copy of the movie too. (Depending on how this DRM shit works).

Pretty there is no transcoding involved. I believed this is just shared copy where there is already a transcoded copy on the disc and all the PS3 is doing is copying it to the PSP in a fashion that's suppose to be DRM'd and protected (yeah right). Also this is only compatible with future Blu-Ray discs and not necessarily with ones in your existing library.

I honestly look forward to this, I think with more options we have have a faster adoption and DVD can MAYBE just MAYBE be replaced this century.

Boy, that sucks. Sony is going to let people transfer Blu-ray movies to their PSP for free? That is just terrible. Someone might actually buy a PS3.

Horrible Article...great underlying substance.

Love the upgradeability of these new consoles. Mmm...if only the NES had had an upgradeable firmware....(daydreams).

Go Sony on this one!!! I'm all over the new gun metal grey version...